


Memories Keep You Near

by sparkinside (boomersoonerash)



Series: 30 Days of Fools [2]
Category: Everybody Else (Band), Hanson (Band)
Genre: Afterlife, Anthem Era, Brother/Sister Incest, Death, F/M, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Death in Childbirth, Older Man/Younger Woman, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-25 22:16:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6212299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomersoonerash/pseuds/sparkinside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After giving birth to Milo, Avery gets a visit from Carrick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories Keep You Near

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bexgoesrawr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexgoesrawr/gifts).



> Prompts  
> Pairing: Avery/Carrick  
> Song: Eternity (Memory of Lightwaves)  
> Prompt: Ghosts

Memories Keep You Near

Avery frowned as she sat alone in the house that had used to be her and Carrick's home. Today had been his funeral and even though she was four months pregnant she had went. She had wanted to go, especially after his body had been found. It had been found in the woods near her family's cabin. Sam had buried him so close to a place that her family loved.

Hearing a noise coming from upstairs Avery stood from the couch and headed upstairs making a face when she saw Carrick standing at the end of the hallway. She knew logically there was no way he was here and that her mind was just seeing things. She was going crazy.

"You're not really here," she whispered as she closed her eyes quickly and opened them just as quickly seeing Carrick still standing there. How the hell was he here?

Shaking her head she walked over to him, coming to stop beside him. "Carrick?" she asked as she reached her hand out to touch him, gulping when her hand didn't go through him. He was human flesh and blood. He was standing right in front of her. "H..how are you here?" she asked him curiously as she stepped away some.

Carrick smiled as he looked down at her, "I should be the one asking how you are here?" he asked as he gave her a wink. "And why are you still pregnant?"

Looking at him confused Avery raised an eyebrow, "I'm here because they found your body and today was your funeral," she spoke feeling confused as to why he asked her that. "And I'm still pregnant because I'm only four months. It doesn't take four months to carry a baby to term," she laughed as she watched Carrick move from where he stood and walk into their bedroom.

"You must be forgetting things," Carrick whispered as he went to the bed and laid down, patting the spot beside him for Avery. "I forgot things too when I first arrived here," he frowned remembering that day. Though he had been met by his great-grandmother when he arrived. At least Avery had him.

Walking to the bed Avery laid down beside him, "What do you mean forgetting things? Forgetting what things?" she asked confused as to why he was being so cryptic with her. Carrick could be cryptic but this was scaring her. This was making her confused and giving her a headache.

Carrick shook his head, "You'll remember eventually," he smiled as he pulled her closer and inhaled her scent. He hadn't touched her or smelled her in so long. The last time he had seen her had been the night Sam had killed him. The night Sam had ended his life abruptly.

"What is the last thing you remember Avery?" Carrick asked as he looked over at her. She looked so beautiful dressed all in white. She looked like she had the day he married her, even if the dress had been different.

"Your funeral," Avery answered before frowning. "Everyone was there. You even had some fans show up," she told him figuring he would like to know. "I came by the house to be myself. I was on the couch thinking of you before I came up here."

Frowning at Avery's words Carrick held her closer. He could remember the details of his funeral. He had been there for that but that had been five months ago. Avery's memory really had gone back five months where as when he showed up here his was only off a day. How could Avery forget five months, though maybe she was one of the ones his great-grandmother had mentioned. Ones who weren't meant to stay because it wasn't their time yet.

"My funeral was five months ago Ave," Carrick finally spoke. "It's September now. September seventh."

Avery swallowed hard as she heard him, "It can't be September seventh," she said before pulling away from him and looking down at her stomach. Now there wasn't even the beginning of a bump under her white dress. "If it's September seventh then I would be giving birth to Milo," she frowned trying to make sense of things.

As Avery mentioned giving birth it finally dawned on Carrick what had happened and when he watched as Avery's face paled he reckoned that she too had remembered what happened. She had died while giving birth to her son.

"I was in labor with Milo," Avery frowned as she remembered now how she had gotten here. How she was in the afterlife with Carrick. "I was in labor but there was problems. I had a placental abruption during labor. I was losing too much blood. That's the last thing I remember hearing before sitting on the couch in our living room.

Once Avery had finished speaking, Carrick looked at her before running a hand through his hair, "I..I'm sorry Avie," he whispered before pulling her to him again. He was sorry that she had died, that she had died during something that should have been a happy time.

"I can't go back?" Avery asked Carrick as she felt tears stinging her eyes. She knew she was dead but this wasn't her idea of the afterlife, being stuck in her and Carrick's old house. "I can't go back to my children or him?"

Carrick shook his head at her question, "Not once you remember your death. Once you remember it's final," he said wishing she hadn't remembered. He wished that she had just kept thinking it was his funeral.

Feeling the tears that had been stinging her eyes go down her cheek she let her head go into Carrick as she cried hard. She wasn't ready to die. She wasn't ready to die and leave her kids behind or him. How could she leave him now? How could she leave him after everything?

"He won't make it without me Carrick," Avery whispered as she chewed on her lip before moving away and wiping her eyes. "He won't make it. I have to get back to him," she said before getting off the bed and running down the stairs. There had to be a way out of here. There had to be a way she could get back to her kids and to him.

When she made it downstairs Avery saw the front door and she went to it but before she could open it she frowned as it faded away. "The kitchen," she said remembering the sliding screen doors in there. Turning she went in there but again right before she could open it, it too faded away.

"It's no use running," Carrick spoke as he walked into the kitchen and looked at Avery's back. "There's no way out of here. You remembered your death and now you're gone for good."

"I refuse to believe that," Avery muttered as she turned to face Carrick. "I refuse to believe that I can't go back. I love my children and I love him and I need to get back to him and my kids. I need too," she yelled feeling all of her anger take over. There was no way she was dead for good no matter what Carrick said.

It was after Avery yelled at Carrick that both of them froze when they heard his voice. He was obviously with Avery's body because he kept talking to her, his voice cracking with every other word. He was begging her to come back to him. He was begging her to wake up and just breathe because he felt like he would die without her.

Falling to the floor Avery looked up at Carrick feeling helpless. Avery felt helpless because she was trapped right now. She was trapped and she needed to get untrapped.

"I could never hear anyone after I remembered my death," Carrick informed her before sitting down beside her on the floor. "Once you remember that is supposed to sever any ties with your body."

Before Avery can ask Carrick what that means she sees the sliding glass door appear again and she wonders if that means the porch door has appeared again too. Standing up again Avery waited for Carrick to do the same before going to the living room where she finds out that indeed the porch door has appeared again too.

Looking at Carrick for answers he gives her a smile, "You can go back if you want," he nodded as he looked towards the front door. "Or you can choose to stay. You must be one of the ones who they think it isn't your time yet...if you don't want it to be."

When Avery heard his voice again after Carrick speaks and how he is pleading with a doctor not to cover her body up, not to make him leave her she knows what she has to do. She knows which decision she has to make.


End file.
